Michael Sauers
May 14, 2026
Good evening.
My name is Michael Sauers. I live in Bloomsburg which is in Columbia County. I am a retired public school teacher, businessman and community organizer. Also, I am a member of the largest public sector union in PA, PSEA, with a membership of 178,000. Currently, I am a writer, editor and publisher for Greenfire Coalition Writers’ Forum.
Thank you for this opportunity.
My perspective on data centers is heavily influenced by growing up in the hard coal region of NE Pennsylvania, specifically McAdoo. I witnessed coal barons devastating land, water and labor and then leaving. This was followed by a pitiful attempt at top down industrial development by a group of inexperienced, pseudo economic industrial developers. This led to helter skelter industrial parks, polluting industries, illegal dumping, 20 superfund sites and low paying jobs.
Now comes “data centers”.
Cheerleaders, promoters, enthusiasts, stakeholders, grifters and, YES, Governor Shapiro have been challenged by communities throughout the State on at least a dozen issues; actual need, no community voice in process, land use, electricity rates, water usage, permanent jobs, habitat destruction, property values, impact on wildlife, noise pollution, light pollution and disruption to community life. All of these are valid concerns.
However, they bring up even larger issues. The biggest is loss of control at the local level. The Municipal Planning Codes Act, which is currently under review, needs to be strengthened to empower communities to say NO to unwanted development that is being shoved down their throats. The boot must be taken off the necks of communities.
Communities must be empowered to reject top down economic development that gives them little or no voice in their future economic development. Economic development must be built on broad based community consensus from engaged citizens. Economic development must be put on the ballot.
Affected communities need resources to hire independent experts, lawyers and advocates to assist in the decision making process. You might wonder where the money will come from for such a program? I propose diverting the estimated, by right wing and left wing advocacy groups, 2 billion dollars per year of corporate welfare and a share of the 10 plus billion dollars in surplus state revenues.
I support a three year statewide moratorium on data centers. Communities do not need expedited permitting and less time to study and consider mass developments such as data centers, warehouses, pipelines, transmission lines and energy plants. In fact, they need just the opposite.
Stop the corporate welfare that revolves around these proposals whether local, state or federal. These industries are highly profitable and do not need to put their hands in taxpayers’ pockets.
Stop expediting climate changing/environmentally damaging fracking for data center use via regulatory rollbacks, behind the meter power schemes, and fast tracking and sped up approval.
GOVERNOR SHAPIRO, START LISTENING AND DIALOGUING WITH ALL OF YOUR CONSTITUENTS NOT JUST THE CHOSEN FEW.
GOVERNOR SHAPIRO, START READING AND REFERENCING THE “COMPENDIUM OF SCIENTIFIC, MEDICAL, AND MEDIA FINDINGS DEMONSTRATING RISKS AND HARMS OF FRACKING AND ASSOCIATED GAS AND OIL INFRASTRUCTURE.
GOVERNOR SHAPIRO, STOP IGNORING YOUR OWN PA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURG STUDIES ON FRACKING.
FINALLY, GOVERNOR SHAPIRO, I DID NOT VOTE FOR YOU IN THE PRIMARY BECAUSE OF THE ABOVE AND SEVERAL OTHER ISSUES. LET’S SEE WHAT THE GENERAL ELECTION BRINGS.
Thank you again for this opportunity.